‘You know, David, the more times you traverse these streets, the less sweat you appear to produce. Now that you’re a permanent fixture here, you will be ready to run a marathon in no time.’
‘I’ll try to keep that in mind.’ Carter replied with a forced smile as, attempting to control his heavy breathing, he sat down next to him. ‘I’ve been all the way down to the car park and back up again, trying to find you. I wish you’d keep your mobile turned on.’
Doggie shook his head. ‘In actual fact I’m on university holiday time and, as such, yearn to be spared from any annoying business calls.
‘Bloody teachers,’ Carter muttered under his breath. ‘Look, Alex wants a favour from you.’
‘Where is he?’
‘Should be in Rome by now,’ Carter replied before snatching a bit of Doggie’s quartered sandwich and guzzling it down. ‘Sorry but I’ll need sustenance if I’m going to train for that marathon.’
‘Then buy your own sustenance next time, will you?’ Doggie said, pulling his plate closer to him. ‘What’s the favour?’
‘He hoped you wouldn’t mind letting Chloe know he’s OK and that he’ll be away for a few more days, on university business.’
‘Passing the buck?’ Doggie let rip a short burst of laughter. ‘She always knows when something’s up. He’s such a chicken.’
‘He really is,’ Carter replied in complete agreement. ‘But, to be fair, he appears to be in the thick of it, so would you mind?’
‘Of course, not a problem. I’m sure I can come up with some reasonable story.’ Doggie flicked some offending breadcrumbs from his tweed jacket. ‘You know, David, I feel so lucky to be involved with this whole Templar thing. On one hand it really makes me feel like I’m part of history itself… In the know.’
‘But?’ Carter was finally recovering his breath.
‘But, on the other hand, it is so incredibly frustrating that I can’t tell anyone about it,’ Doggie replied with his eyebrows rising upwards. ‘Anyone important, at any rate.’
Carter offered an understanding nod. ‘I know what you mean but you can always discuss it with me.’
Doggie’s eyebrows lowered and his eyes dulled. ‘Like I said, anyone important. Now, did it help with Avi Legrundy?’
Carter looked dumbfounded and his eyes began to squint. ‘Did what help?’
This clueless response had Doggie lightly slap his own face in disappointment. ‘The information I dropped on your desk… about Avi Legrundy. Her name was in the vault’s inventory. No actual files but her name crops up a few times.’
Carter’s eyes widened and his cheeks began to flush with anger. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘I did,’ Doggie replied firmly, not about to take any crap from his colleague. ‘You never listen, David, you damn cloth-ears. Pay attention, man. There’s a separate storage room, on the second floor of the vault, containing a few dozen boxes of files and logbooks. The inventory included the name Avi Legrundy, pertaining to those files.’
Carter now looked embarrassed.
‘Did you actually check the inventory logs?’
‘I didn’t even know there was a second floor,’ Carter replied. ‘All my time so far has been taken up with the artefacts side of things. I’ve not had time to reach the logs yet.’
‘Then perhaps that time has come.’ Doggie rose from his seat and pointed his finger in the direction of the vault’s entrance, located on the top plateau of the Mont. ‘Allow me, therefore, to be of some use before I leave.’
Within a few minutes, and after a lot of heavy panting from Carter, they made it into the Abbey’s storage room, then accessed the concealed elevator via the palm-print ID. A few more minutes passed and they were back in the bowels of the Mont itself, with Doggie leading the way down a zigzag of steps and onto the second floor.
‘I can’t believe you didn’t know there was a second floor!’ Doggie exclaimed, relishing his colleague’s naivety.
‘I was joshing with you, Tom,’ Carter replied as, with wide eyes, he took in the sight of the second floor for the first time. ‘I just haven’t had a chance to explore it yet.’
The second-floor vault was almost identical to the upper level, with numerous walkways allowing access to multiple shelves on either side and each filled with case after case of Templar antiquities collected since the group’s inception. The only difference was that some of them were huge and, although all were still contained within those familiar pressurised cases to protect from the damaging effects of air and temperature, they were clearly constructed to house the Templars’ larger items.
‘Here it is,’ Doggie announced, halting outside a white door with the number ‘2D’ inscribed on it in black paint and a silver aluminium handle protruding from it which he now grasped firmly and twisted. ‘Take a look at this.’
As the door swung open, some strip lighting above automatically turned on and Carter found himself staring at what amounted to a glorious hodgepodge of items that looked already packed and waiting for a removal truck to take them away. On the nearest shelf were rows of journals with dates printed on their spines in gold lettering, like an encyclopaedia collection, while varnished wooden boxes sealed shut with yellow tape were piled up in the middle of the small room. Leaning to one side were much larger items wrapped tightly in Saran wrap which concealed any clear view of what they might be.
‘I haven’t had a poke around yet but the logbooks definitely indicate this room as containing information regarding Avi Legrundy.’
Carter made his way further into the room and up to the boxes stacked neatly in the centre. ‘What did the records say?’
‘That’s the odd thing,’ Doggie replied. ‘Just her name and the storage number, 2D, which is surprising given how detailed the records are for everything else stored here.’ He moved over to the first journal on the shelf top and tapped it with his index finger. ‘Simply stored or hidden away out of sight; I wonder which.’
Carter offered a grunt of curiosity and then reached into the first box to pick at the yellow tape, before pulling it away and crumpling it into a sticky ball which he dropped on the floor. ‘Let’s take a look then, shall we.’ He carefully pulled open the lid, which swung back on brass hinges to come to rest in an upward position. He began to inquisitively rummage through the contents, and within seconds found something of interest. He now pulled out a small clothbound diary and flipped open the front cover. The pages within were handwritten in black biro and, before he even had a chance to read all the way through the first line, his eye was caught by a familiar name printed neatly in the top right corner: ‘Liam Harker.’
Doggie now leant closer to read the name for himself. ‘That’s Alex’s father… which means these must be his personal effects.’
Carter said nothing more but began to read through the entire page as Doggie turned his attention instead to the large wrapped-up object leaning against the facing wall. He began to rip off the silver plastic packaging and in no time at all had stripped the whole lot off. He then took a step back to examine a large slab of oval-shaped white marble, measuring over a metre in height and almost twice that in length.
‘This thing must weigh a tonne,’ Doggie stammered, which caught Carter’s attention. He placed the diary back in the box and made his way over to take a look for himself.
The marble slab had a single image carved into its surface and, given the visible erosion, it was without doubt extremely old. But even at first glance Carter knew what it was and, more importantly still, what it represented. At the centre was a man, with a long cape flowing behind him, kneeling on an animal with his left hand muzzling its mouth. In his right hand he held a dagger which had been plunged into the creature’s shoulder. To Carter, though, the important thing was not the man which the relief clearly centred upon but rather the animal. It was a horned bull that appeared to be in muffled agony as the man knelt on its back, forcing it down to the ground. A long narrow serpent was slithering up its spine, w
hile underneath it a dog bit at its ankle whilst a large scorpion attacked the beast’s genitals with sharp-looking pincers. Above, from opposite corners the sun and the moon shone down on this violent image, and over to one side a long beaked raven watched eagerly from the branch of a tree, at the dagger being plunged into the bull’s neck.
An uncomfortable feeling began forming in Carter’s stomach and, even though he wasn’t exactly sure why, he now realised what they were up against – and what this Avi Legrundy represented.
‘I know what this image means,’ he said softly, and Doggie nodded silently in agreement because he too knew what they were looking at and he uttered just a single word.
‘Mithras.’
Chapter 27
‘Just relax and try not to look so nervous,’ Harker quietly urged as he and Stefani made their way off the twelve-seater shuttle bus and out onto the tarmac of Ciampino airport, just south of Rome. ‘We haven’t done anything wrong.’
‘Of course we haven’t,’ she replied sarcastically but with a bemused expression. ‘Just like we haven’t assaulted Archbishop Federar back at his holy palace, and neither have we left him propped him up in a chair in a state of unconsciousness.’
‘Only after the man went totally crazy,’ Harker offered as they both continued swiftly towards the Cessna Citation X waiting for them with its cabin door already wide open.
‘He wasn’t crazy, Alex. He was possessed, just like my father. And we’re going to burn for this, you know?’
Stefani had seemed unusually shaken by the ruckus back at Vatican City, and she wasn’t the only one. Harker was only too aware of the seriousness of what essentially amounted to inflicting GBH on a high-ranking Vatican official – and just as importantly, an old friend. Also the idea that Archbishop Federar had become possessed was hard enough to digest but that it happened so quickly and with almost no warning was just as disturbing. ‘Look, I don’t know how but we’ll make this right, I promise. And for the moment no one has any idea what really happened.’
‘How on earth can you be sure of that?’ she gasped just as they reached the jet and she paused with one foot resting on the first step.
‘Because, if they did, then we wouldn’t be getting onto this aeroplane, would we? So let’s not hang around here any longer.’
It was a reasonable suggestion and Stefani gave a slow nod, before Harker pushed her up the stairs and into the cabin, where they found one of the pilots waiting patiently for them.
‘Destination sir?’ he inquired, and as Stefani took her seat, Harker was already gesturing the man towards the cockpit.
‘Anywhere but here. Just get us airborne and out of Italian airspace as soon as possible.’
‘Like, is that it?’ The pilot raised his eyebrows. ‘Very well, take a seat and we’ll get going.’
Until that moment it had not occurred to Harker whether the crew were Templar associates or just hired professionals but, given the man’s response, it was clear that they were the former, and he was glad of it. For most people, alarms bells would have gone off the moment they were instructed to get out of the country ASAP.
‘What the hell are we going to do?’ Stefani asked as Harker sat down next to her. ‘This whole business has become a totally confusing nightmare. I myself don’t even know what we’re doing.’
She was right, of course, and he knew it. What had started as simply an enquiry into the death of Stefani’s father had now morphed into a tangled mesh of murder, conspiracy theories, prophecies, and satanic worship. Then add to this mix those glowing artefacts capable of delivering visions, and the whole thing seemed no more than a chaotic mess.
‘What the hell is going on?’ Stefani continued loudly and because Harker was just about to say the same thing, he began to laugh out loud.
‘I’m not sure I’ve an answer for you, as my brain is buzzing with confusion,’ Harker replied, then shook his head in despair because he had been feeling somewhat removed from reality ever since he experienced that vision. It was like his mind was no longer firing on all cylinders and as if he had lost – or gained – something. ‘If there was any such thing as a mind enema, I’d be all for taking a triple dose.’
The idea of such an imagined medication had Stefani looking wide-eyed, and Harker raised his eyebrows wistfully. ‘That’s not a real thing, is it?’
‘Of course not,’ Stefani scolded. ‘But, you’re right, we need to clear our heads now and figure out exactly where we’re at.’
‘OK,’ he replied, also wanting to get things straight in his own mind. ‘This whole series of events – your father’s death, the Blessed Candles and the group seeking them – they all revolve around the three days of Darkness prophecy which,’ he paused and scratched his neck in irritation, ‘if I hadn’t seen that vision I would be hard pressed to believe. But with that still in mind, I’ve come to genuinely believe that something unearthly is going on, so it all has to be taken seriously. And the members of the Order of Tharmis are convinced that this prophecy will come to pass within the coming hours.’
Harker gently pulled out of his pocket the scrap of paper they had stolen from the Vatican’s secret archive and placed it on the table in front of them. ‘They also believe that this here is not only the solution to stopping an apocalyptic tragedy, but contains instructions on how to stop it from beginning at all. But, apart from corroborating that those currently holding religious power will become consumed by Satan’s minions – which as we saw with Archbishop Federar, is definitely true to its word – there’s nothing else written in there which helps us one bit.’
He picked up the scrap of paper and began to reading it yet again, and was only a few sentences into it when he noticed something odd being illuminated by one of the cabin’s floor lights alongside him. At the very edge of the note appeared to be shadows or a discolouring and, as Harker scrutinised those closer, he made something out. They were symbols… no letters, tiny letters which lined the edge of the page like a dull grey watermark, and were easy to miss. He raised the note towards the brighter overhead lights and the closer he moved it, the clearer the miniscule lettering became.
‘What is it?’ Stefani asked, peering more closely at the note.
‘Something added in invisible ink.’
‘That’s impossible. They didn’t have invisible ink two hundred years ago.’
Of course they did,’ Harker replied, glancing at her momentarily. ‘They used a mixture of lemon juice and water, but there’s no way it would have gone unnoticed by anyone examining it thoroughly.’
He ran his index finger along the hidden message, with squinting eyes. ‘Ospedale del Santo… Orphanage of the Saint. I’ve not heard of it.’ He turned back to face Stefani, who now looked as if she had just seen a ghost.
She said nothing at first and Harker was about to ask what the problem was, when her lips began to quiver. ‘I have.’
‘What is it?’ He asked, placing the scrap of paper down on the desk in front of them.
‘It’s the orphanage where I grew up. It’s in Venice.’
The coincidence was incredible to Harker. ‘Could your father have written it?’
‘I suppose that’s possible, but you heard the archbishop, there were multiple people working on it at one time, so it would have been hard to get away with.’ Stefani’s eyes began to widen. ‘But if not, then Cardinal Vicci wrote it over two hundred years ago.’
They both sat in stunned silence as the jet’s engines roared and began to gather in speed, until finally they felt the aircraft lift off its wheels and begin its ascent into the sky.
‘Do you believe in fate?’ Stefani asked him in a voice just audible above the engines.
Harker remained silent as the two stared at each other unblinkingly, then just as he was about to reply the phone began to vibrate in his pocket and broke the eerie moment between them. He pulled it out and swiped the answer bar to one side. ‘Hello.’
‘Alex,’ Carter began and he was interrupt
ed immediately by Harker.
‘Hold on, David, I’m putting you on speakerphone,’ he explained, tapping the appropriate icon on his touch screen. ‘OK, go ahead now. I’m here with Stefani; please tell us you have something.’ Harker sounded practically desperate but that was immediately swept away by the excitement in Carter’s voice.
‘Oh, I have something all right and you’re not going to believe it.’
Harker shot Stefani a look of anticipation as Carter began to unload information in haste, as was his usual style when extremely excited.
‘We’ve been looking in the wrong direction all this time. They’re not Satanists, and neither is Avi Legrundy,’ Carter explained eagerly. ‘The bull’s head you found at Father Davies’s apartment, the ceremony you got caught up in in Rome, those weren’t satanic rituals… they were rites of passage.’
If Harker had hoped his friend was about to clear things up, he was now sorely disappointed and was already shaking his head in confusion. ‘What are you talking about?’
That group you’ve been encountering, they’re not devil worshippers… they’re followers of Mithras!’
The very word had Harker’s mouth dropping open in bewilderment. ‘That’s impossible, David.’
‘I know, I know, but just hear me out,’ Carter replied with defiance in his tone, ‘Tom found a reference to Avi Legrundy in the Templar archives and we discovered a storage area full of stuff. Now, I’ve not had time to go through it all, because there’s just so much there, but what I have discovered is bloody fascinating – and your father was at the centre of it.’
The mention of his father had Harker shifting in his seat uncomfortably. Stefani was now leaning closer to the phone as Carter continued with his news.
‘We were led to believe that the Magi were the Templar’s biggest threat and adversary to date, but if your father’s records are anything to go by, then they were just the half of it, Alex. The cult of Mithras posed just as big a threat, if not more.’
‘Who are the Mithras?’ Stefani asked, noticeably twitchy over her unfamiliarity of the subject, but Harker raised a hand in a bid to placate her.
The Dark Temple Page 21